Most of our health issues tend to be blamed on external factors, even when we consistently work to protect ourselves and our loved ones from infections, viruses, and other ailments. But according to Ayurveda, the traditional Indian medical system, disease is not just a function of encountering germs, it is largely due to the inability of the body to resist. This fundamental understanding reorients our minds from external vulnerabilities to internal power and harmony.

Ayurveda, derived from Sanskrit terms Ayu (life) and Veda (knowledge), is an overall medicinal science dealing with the synergistic harmony of the body, mind, and spirit. Different from the so-called modern medicine, which involves mainly treating a disease, Ayurveda favors prevention via well-balanced lifestyle.

In Ayurvedic philosophy, the human body is made up of doshas (bioenergies), dhatus (tissues), mala (waste), and agni (digestive fire). The smooth functioning of these components defines overall well-being, and any imbalance of them results in disease.

What is the Root Causes of Disease?

Famous Ayurvedic physician Nidhi Pandya recently went online to voice her opinion on the root cause of all illness. In contradiction to the common assumption, she said that food is the last thing on the list. Rather, she highlighted deeper, usually ignored lifestyle patterns that jeopardize health:

1. Existing in perpetual fear

2. Inadequate sleep

3. Incorrect breathing patterns

4. Undernourishment

5. Overwork and chronic stress

6. Eating stale, packaged, and processed food

This finding complements the basic Ayurvedic concept that disease is not only a physiological disturbance but also a reflection of mental, emotional, and environmental derangements.

Ayurvedic View of Disease Etiology

According to Ayurveda, our internal environment continuously interacts with the outside world. Disruption in this equilibrium results in disease, which can be divided into two categories:

Agantuk (External) Factors: Environmental toxins, microbes, seasons, and lifestyle habits.

Nija (Internal) Factors: These are a result of imbalances in doshas, faulty digestion, and the buildup of toxins (ama).

Acharya Charak, one of the founders of Ayurveda, wrote in the Charak Samhita that disease (vyadhi) arises when mental and physical disturbances create discomfort.

Stages of Disease Progression in Ayurveda

Ayurveda identifies six clear stages of disease development. Identifying these stages enables early treatment and complete healing.

1. Accumulation (Sanchaya)

Disease arises when one or more doshas accumulate as a result of bad diet, stress, or environmental contact. Each dosha has a natural "home":

• Vata accumulates in the colon, nerves, and channels of the body.
• Pitta accumulates in the digestive tract, eyes, and skin.
• Kapha accumulates in the chest, joints, and circulatory system.

2. Aggravation (Prakopa)

At this level, the collected dosha changes in quality and develops the potential to move from its natural place. Excess Pitta, for example, might lead to acidity and inflammation.

3. Dissemination (Prasara)

Now, the diseased dosha spreads all over the body and destroys equilibrium. The symptoms are still mild but perceivable—weariness, slight pains, or a feeling of restlessness.

4. Localization (Sthana Samshraya)

The dosha comes to rest in weak or compromised locations, causing the first specific signs of disease. For instance, Kapha settling in the respiratory tract can cause congestion.

5. Manifestation (Vyakti)

The disease is now fully established, with distinct and recognizable signs. The disturbance of tissues and organ function causes acute health problems such as colds, digestive problems, or inflammatory diseases.

6. Chronicity (Bheda)

If not treated, the disease is either chronic or irreversible, which compromises the healing ability of the body. Conditions like arthritis, diabetes, or autoimmune diseases occur in this terminal stage.

Role of Agni in Health and Disease

A pillar of Ayurveda is Agni, the digestive fire that helps break down food and transform it into energy. Good Agni means effective digestion, immunity, and energy, whereas poor Agni causes toxin accumulation (ama), the basis of most illnesses.

How to make Agni stronger:

• Consuming freshly prepared, nutrient-rich food
• Eating mindfully
• Adding digestive spices such as ginger, cumin, and turmeric
• Steering clear of cold, stale, and over-processed food
• Taking regular physical exercise

Disease Prevention as per Ayurveda

Considering the complex interdependence of lifestyle and health, Ayurveda advocates a holistic regimen of wellness. Some of the preventive measures are:

Balancing the Doshas

Vata: Keep warm, adhere to a routine schedule, and eat grounding foods.

Pitta: Shun excessive heat, eat cooling foods, and deal with stress.

Kapha: Be active, cut down on heavy foods, and adopt stimulating activities.

Prioritizing Mental Well-being

• Meditation and mindfulness assist in soothing the nervous system.
• Deep Breathing Exercises (Pranayama) increase oxygenation and detoxification.

Quality Sleep

• Regular sleep time synchronizes the body's natural rhythm.
• Ayurveda advises sleeping earlier than 10 PM to enhance natural healing processes.

Herbal Support

• Adaptogenic herbs such as Ashwagandha and Brahmi build immunity and alleviate stress.
• Turmeric and Triphala support digestion and detoxification.

Detoxification (Panchakarma)

Ayurveda focuses on seasonal cleansing therapies such as oil massage, fasting, and herbal treatments to remove toxins.

Conventional medicine tends to treat symptoms more, while Ayurveda seeks to treat the cause. It is only with an understanding of the deeper relation between lifestyle and health that diseases can be avoided before they show up. What Dr. Nidhi Pandya emphasized is that the actual cause of ill health is not external exposure but internal weakness.

History of many ayurvedic roots and herbs span across the worlds, not just India, but many middle eastern countries and east Asian countries also have been using them for a very long time. Many of these ayurvedic natural remedies have been available to use in our homes. One of these herbs is known as licorice root according to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health the use of this root has been traced back to ancient Assyrian, Egyptian, Greek, Arab, Chinese, Tibetan, and Indian cultures.

Its traditional medicinal used included practices like coughing, asthma and wound healing as well as other diseases that affect the lungs liver and arteries. While there are dietary supplements of licorice roots that help our digestion, respiration as well as energy, there are also topical versions that can be applied to the skin for certain conditions.

What Are Its Benefits?

Using a licorice mouthwash or gargle might help make canker sores smaller and less painful for people who get them often. Putting licorice directly on the sore might only help it shrink. One study showed that using licorice with regular canker sore medicine worked better than just the medicine. Gargling with licorice or using licorice candies before surgery might help stop or make a sore throat after surgery less bad.

Some early signs suggest that gels with licorice root might help with eczema or healing burns on the skin. But we need more research to know for sure if they work and if they are safe to use. One early study found that mouthwash with licorice might make bad breath better and get rid of some of the germs that cause it. We don't really know if using just licorice (not mixed with other herbs) helps with tummy problems.

Are Licorice Roots Safe For Consumption?

Licorice root is usually okay to eat as part of food. However, licorice has something in it called glycyrrhizin. If you eat a lot of it or use it for a long time, it can cause serious problems like your heart beating wrong or even stopping. Even a little bit of glycyrrhizin in licorice stuff has been linked to bad problems for people who eat a lot of salt, have high blood pressure, or have heart or kidney issues. Putting licorice root on your skin might be safe for a short time, but it could make some people's skin irritated. It could also mess with some medicines called corticosteroids.

Some Things To Keep In Consideration

Eating a lot of licorice extract (like 250 grams a week) when you're pregnant is not safe and can make you give birth too early. We don't know much about whether it's safe to use licorice when you're breastfeeding.

Unlike drugs, dietary supplements don't need to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before they are sold. However, if there are health worries about a supplement or an herb in it, the government can step in to protect people. The companies that make and sell supplements are responsible for making sure their products are safe and labeled correctly.

From time immemorial we have all heard from our parents and grandparents to drink water from copper jugs and bottles. This is something they swear by. There are also mentions of it in ancient texts, in fact, with modern technologies, some water filters have also incorporated copper within its filtering system, claiming that it adds onto its benefits.

There are claims too that states that drinking copper water could improve your heart and brain health. It can also strengthen your immune system and offer benefits like weight loss, anti-aging, and reduce tanning.

However, how true are these claims?

In a recent Instagram post, a celebrity wellness coach, Like Coutinho stated, "Copper is powerful, but like anything powerful, it demands respect - and moderation."

In his caption, he wrote: "In India, we’ve honoured the tradition of drinking water from copper vessels for centuries. Science now backs this: copper-infused water can support immunity, aid digestion, and act as a natural antioxidant, as copper plays a vital role in forming red blood cells and maintaining healthy nerve and immune function."

However, have you thought about how much is too much? How much copper can your body handle?

Luke said that excess copper can accumulate in the body and could lead to toxicity. It can also irritate your stomach lining, cause nausea, abdominal pain, and even disrupt your zinc balance, which is indeed important for healing and immunity.

He notes: "'You don’t need to sip copper water all day or mix it with lemon, or heat it. One or two mugs of plain, room-temperature copper water a day is usually more than enough."

He also shared a series of text images on his Instagram story of a lady named Akira and told his followers: "The wisdom is always in the dose. Be educated, not influenced."

What Benefits Does Copper Offer?

As per a 2012 study published in the Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition, titled Storing Drinking-water in Copper pots Kills Contaminating Diarrhoeagenic Bacteria, copper containers help store the water in clean environment.

The study notes that in many developing countries, people still don’t have access to clean, safe drinking water. While there are ways to purify water, most methods are too costly for people living in rural or low-income areas. Traditional systems like Ayurveda suggest that storing water in copper containers may help keep it clean.

To test this, researchers carried out a study to see whether copper pots could kill harmful bacteria found in dirty drinking water. They focused on several bacteria known to cause diarrhea and other stomach illnesses—like Vibrio cholerae, Shigella flexneri, different types of E. coli, and Salmonella.

The researchers added these bacteria to ground water and stored it in copper pots for 16 hours at room temperature. When they tested the water after this time, none of the bacteria could be found—even after trying special methods to bring the bacteria back to life. This suggests the bacteria were completely destroyed or made inactive.

This is the first study to show that copper can kill certain bacteria like Shigella flexneri 2a, enteropathogenic E. coli, and Salmonella Paratyphi.

The pH of the water (a measure of acidity) slightly changed from 7.83 to 7.93, but everything else about the water stayed the same. The amount of copper that mixed into the water was very low (177 parts per billion), and still within safe levels according to the World Health Organization.

Overall, this study shows that using copper pots to store water could be a simple, low-cost way to make drinking water safer, especially in places where modern purification systems are hard to access.

What do you reach for when you're not feeling well—a bottle of prescribed pills or a mug of turmeric tea? Do you trust lab results over your body's natural cues? In an age where medical advancements are saving lives daily, why are more people embracing ancient remedies based on nature? Ayurveda vs. Western medicine is more than an argument over timelines—it's an argument over what we look at when considering health itself. One is influenced by numbers, medication, and immediate results. The other wants balance, diet, and chronic healing. Can't it just be both, though?

How these two potent systems—one grounded in science, the other rooted in hundreds of years of tradition—may not actually be in conflict at all. Instead, they may become partners in devising a more holistic and aware path to wellness.

The ancient art of Ayurveda continues to be appealing to seekers of wholeness and integration. Yet with healthcare being highly individualized today, there remains a pivotal question—can modern medicine and Ayurveda in fact co-exist? Can they be rivals or synergistic forces aiming in the same direction: sustainable well-being?

Dr. Rohit Madhav Sane, a renowned Ayurvedic doctor and wellness professional, is of the opinion that it is not only possible but also essential for traditional healing systems and modern innovations to come together. "Emergency care and swift interventions are superbly done by modern medicine," he says, "but Ayurveda promotes the source of health, causing the body to heal from the inside out."

This article discusses the interaction between Ayurveda and conventional medicine, not as a conflict of tradition versus science, but as a dialogue of respect and working coexistence.

Modern medicine is certainly a wonder of the scientific age. In its power to diagnose and cure acute disease rapidly and precisely, it has revolutionized the face of emergency and symptomatic care. A patient with high cholesterol, for example, can be quickly prescribed a statin. In a matter of weeks or days, cholesterol falls. The reaction is rapid and quantifiable.

But this strategy usually falls short of treating the cause. Unhealthy lifestyle, chronic stress, and unbalanced diet often lie behind many illnesses. "What modern medicine tends to do," says Dr. Sane, "is to manage parameters. It's great at controlling symptoms, but it may not fix the site of disease."

This is not a defect, but an emphasis—contemporary medicine exists to stabilize, not always to cure in the long run.

How Ayurveda Addresses the Cause of Disease?

Conversely, Ayurveda approaches much more slowly, and on an individual basis. It aims to re-balance by finding and addressing the underlying causes of imbalance. For elevated cholesterol, an Ayurvedic practitioner might recommend dietary modification, daily yoga, meditation, and adding certain herbs.

This treatment modality does not offer overnight cures. Rather, it cooperates with the body's intrinsic intelligence to restore balance. "Ayurveda believes in enhancing the host," explains Dr. Sane, "rather than simply attacking disease."

Patients tend to notice improvements not only in particular parameters such as cholesterol but in energy, digestion, mood, and immunity as well. It is this end-to-end shift that makes Ayurveda most appropriate for long-term conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, or even autoimmune disease.

Acute vs. Chronic: Knowing When to Use What

Both systems excel in different situations. A heart attack, for example, is not the moment to drink herbal tea. It's a medical emergency that needs to be treated right away—angioplasty, drugs, and hospital monitoring. In such situations, contemporary medicine saves lives.

But what follows after the crisis has been overcome?

Here comes Ayurveda into play—providing recuperative treatment. Through the interventions of therapies such as Abhyanga (medicated oil massage), medicinal medications, and tailored nutritional support, Ayurveda aids in restoration of the body and decreases the likelihood of relapse. "Ayurveda can bring about the change of patients from drug dependency to sustained well-being," Dr. Sane comments.

In lifestyle illnesses such as hypertension or type 2 diabetes, an integrated approach is usually the most effective—first pharmaceutical treatment, followed by Ayurvedic treatment to minimize or eliminate the requirement for long-term medication.

What is Ayurvedic Panchakarma?

One of Ayurveda's hallmark practices, Panchakarma, provides a systemic cleansing unlike anything found in modern times. It's a strict, doctor-supervised regimen aimed at cleansing toxins from the body's innermost tissues.

Consider Panchakarma a body reboot," Dr. Sane says. "It doesn't only detoxify—it reprograms your metabolism and builds up your body's inner reservoirs.

Scientific research increasingly validates the detoxification role in minimizing systemic inflammation, a major contributor to chronic disease. Panchakarma involves treatments such as Basti (medicated enemas), Virechana (purging), and Nasya (nasal treatment), each selected according to individual body types (doshas). After detox, patients commonly experience enhanced mental clarity, improved sleep, and increased energy—effects that persist beyond the treatment period.

How Ayurveda and Modern Medicine Can Work Together?

Ayurveda is not merely treatment—it's empowerment. It builds what Dr. Sane refers to as "inner reserves." These are your body's capacity to recover from trauma, resist disease, and adapt to stress.

For instance, coronary flow reserve—the heart's capacity to endure stress—may be increased using Ayurvedic principles: regular Dinacharya (routine), conscious eating, and Rasayana therapies (rejuvenation). It's this proactive body building that puts Ayurveda not just as a system of healing, but also of prevention.

The future isn't a matter of sides. It's a matter of integration.

Contemporary medicine provides diagnostic means—blood work, MRI scans, genetic testing. Ayurveda brings with it individualized therapies grounded in Prakriti (constitution), Agni (digestive fire), and Ojas (vital energy). Combined, they can enable clinicians to know both the what and the why of disease.

"Integrated medicine is not a fad," Dr. Sane points out. "It's the future."

As healthcare evolves, the fusion of Ayurveda and modern medicine offers a more complete, compassionate model. Quick fixes and deep healing, emergency care and long-term resilience—when these strengths are harnessed together, patients receive the best of both worlds.

For a world facing rising rates of chronic disease, stress, and lifestyle disorders, this integrative approach isn’t just ideal—it’s essential.

Dr Rohit Madhav Sane is a Ayurvedic doctor and founder of Madhavbaug in India